24 mom-tested back-to-school apps

You’ve bought your child the notebooks and sneakers, but what about the apps? There are plenty of learning apps on the market — to help your kindergartner through the first day of school and to assist with writing, science, math, and even bullying issues. But which ones are worth buying? Boston.com Moms turned to the ladies from The iMums to find out. The iMums make it their mission to educate parents about technology and apps.

“We don’t recommend an app unless we’ve tested it,” said Alison Hirst, one of the mums and a former New Englander now living in Chicago. “We tested all of these apps and talked about them among the four of us. And the kids have tried almost all of them because that’s part of our review process.”

The other mums include Amanda Powell in Australia, Grace Shirley Chong in Singapore, and Mary Mahon from the UK, who now lives in California. They have 17 kids among them, ranging in age from 3 to 23.

So read on for 24 preschool to middle school apps that have impressed The iMums this school year. We’ve also included pricing information.
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Artgig Studio

For preschoolers

Alien Buddies by Artgig Studio uses friendly alien buddies to teach children color, letter, number and shape recognition and actions such as dragging and dropping to enhance fine motor skills. Activities include: dot-to-dot, matching by color, shape, letter and number (both audio and visual modes), and stickers. --iMums

Ready to Print by Essare LLC is an app that works on a range of pre-writing skills. It is designed to teach children the correct patterns for writing and to avoid developing bad habits. The app progresses with the child and allows customization of size, activity level, and specific activity worked on. --iMums

Bugs & Buttons by Little Bit Studio is a unique app with stunning graphics that includes 18 different games that work on many skills, including: patterns, sorting, memory, mazes, counting, and letters. This app is a great brain builder and an even better motor skills builder – it encourages visual tracking, and incorporates many fine motor movements. --iMums

Talking ABC by Jutiful is a delightful Claymation app that teaches children the letter names and sounds. Each letter turns into an animated Claymation animal, who will repeat back what the child says. --iMums

iLuv Drawing People by MyVijan LLC is an app that helps children learn to draw a self-portrait, which is an important skill in kindergarten. This step-by-step drawing app teaches the child how to draw people using simple shapes, and work on tracing skills, fine motor, and drawing skills. --iMums

Wild Kratts Creature Math by PBS Kids combines math and science as students join forces with the Kratt brothers to create their own unique animal habitats, while working on addition and subtraction. The habitat is constantly changing so students need to keep working on their math skills to earn food and homes for their animals; and they learn animal facts along the way. --iMums

Splash Math Kindergarten by Studypad Inc. contains jungle-themed math exercises that are very well designed and fun for students. Based on the app’s detailed progress reports, parents are able to set practice goals and select specific math skills to work on, or work on a mixed review of the whole kindergarten year of math skills. --iMums

Write my Name by NC Soft helps children learn to write letters and words in both upper and lowercase. As well as letters, it includes more than 100 Dolch-Sight Words and allows creation of up to 36 personalized words, such as the child’s name. --iMums

Reading Raven HD by Early Ascent LLC takes children all the way from early phonological awareness skills up to reading sentences. It includes three levels, each taught over five lessons. It utilizes a multi-sensory approach where children read, speak, and write as they learn, and are rewarded with stickers as they complete each step. --iMums

Rocket Speller Plus by Little Big Studio is an app designed to help children learn phonics and early spelling while engaging in a game to build and launch a rocket ship. The app allows parents to select the types of words they want children to work on, and it grows with children as their skills progress. --iMums

Bo’s School Day by Heppi Apps features Bo the Giraffe as he begins kindergarten, and works well to introduce the concept of “big kid” school. It walks the child step by step through the school day: packing a lunch box and backpack, singing the “days of the week” song, making music, having lunch, building with blocks, cleaning up toys and the classroom, and leaving to go home. --iMums

Smarty Britches Nouns by Sascyn Publishing, Inc., transports children to the Deep South where they learn about the different types of nouns. The app tells the story of Jackson, a boy from Arkansas, and includes a series of mini-games; a free lesson plan including activities that align with Common Core State Standards is also available. --iMums

Math Mathews by Kiupe is an engaging, pirate-themed app, containing three mini-games where students work on their multiplication skills and learn the times tables. This app is Pirates of the Caribbean meets Indiana Jones meets multiplication! --iMums

Squeebles Fractions by Key Stage Fun contains four mini-games, which teach different aspects of fractions in a fun and visually appealing way. It features cute monsters called Squeebles who are having a cake show; by answering math questions the student earns recipes and ingredients to create cakes for the show. --iMums

StoryPals by Expressive Solutions LLC allows children to work on both reading comprehension and composition. The app includes 24 short stories from reading level 2 to 6, each with narration, interactive elements and comprehension questions; it also gives them the tools to create their own stories with the same features. --iMums

Simplex Spelling Phonics- Advanced Phonograms by Pyxwise Software Inc. is part of a series of apps that use reverse phonics to teach spelling; this app moves on from the basics taught in the previous apps to teach quite complicated phonemes. The Simplex Spelling apps excel is actually teaching your child how to spell, rather than just memorize word lists. --iMums

In Ansel and Clair: Paul Revere’s Ride by Cognitive Kid Inc., Ansel and Clair, visitors from the planet Virtoos, take students on an immersing, engaging, interactive history lesson as they join Paul Revere on his infamous ride. This app really brings history to life as it teaches children about this important chapter in American History. --iMums

Bobo Explores Light by Game Collage LLC, is an award-winning science app featuring Bobo the robot who takes the student on a virtual tour of 21 different topics associated with light. From photosynthesis through refraction, space, Thomas Edison, and the human eye this app presents an amazing amount of information in a highly engaging way. --iMums

Geography Drive USA by Spinlight Studio brings geography to life as the student travels from state to state and answers various trivia questions to master each state. This is a great app to complement fourth grade teaching of United States geography and is fun to play as a family as well. --iMums

Math Heroes vs. Dragons by 12 Fingers Studio is an app designed for students from fifth grade onward and works on a range of math skills including: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, ordering of fractions; and area and perimeter of triangles and rectangles. While playing the app, students play the role of a superhero capturing dragons, earning gold, and competing in “Boss Battles.” --iMums

Hands-On Equations: The Fun Way to Learn Algebra 1 by Hands on Equations takes a branch of mathematics that many people find intimidating, and turns it into a physical concept that is much easier to grasp. It uses pawns to represent variables and numbered blocks to represent constants, and is based on a system that has been successfully used with more than a million students. --iMums

iTooch Middle School by EduPad Inc. provides a year of curriculum for sixth, seventh, or eighth graders. The app includes samples of seven titles for free that you can try before purchasing the remaining content. The lessons were designed by middle school teachers to meet Common Core State Standards in math, language arts, health and music. --iMums

Middle School Confidential 1: Be Confident in Who You Are by Electric Eggplant is the first of a series of graphic novels that follow four teens as they navigate some of the tough issues facing Middle School students. In this book they encounter bullying, teasing, self-doubt and worrying too much about what others think; they find ways to cope and learn to believe in themselves. --iMums